Lord Caligo
The Lord Caligo is the liege lord of the Isle of Epidicae, residing in an estate overlooking the town of Carolia. He is an old man with white hair and noted to be a recluse who was formerly a competent swordsman. Much of the day-to-day ruling, particularly the business side of ruling, is performed by his wife, the Lady Caligo. He is rumoured to have done abhorrent things to his family. After his daughter, Esmerelda, fell ill with a strange disease about a year before the fire at the Desmognathus estate, Lord Caligo sent his men to place the renowned expert Gaius the Alchemist under house arrest to determine a cure under pain of death. Since then, he has been rarely seen in public, even within the town of Carolia. At some point, he placed a bounty upon Ensatina Desmognathus' head, and on her companions too. Later Ensatina and her companions went to the older part of the castle, where Lord Caligo resided, find the corpses of dead magisters and guards. Adelliah ate part of the magisters to determine that they were planning to launch an attack on a local lord, most likely Caligo, who was performing dangerous acts and messing with Source. Ensatina managed to convince the captain of the guard, Captain Octarus, to take her and her companions to see Lord Caligo, who resided in the old great hall of the castle, flanked by two men in masked black plate armour, who turned out to be his sons Artur and Lance, who were now reanimated skeletons. Caligo identified Ensatina as the one who killed his alchemist; Ensatina said he was sloppy and that she could heal his daughter better. He agreed, ordering Artur and Lance to arrest Ensatina and to kill her friends, but she succesfully convinced Caligo that they were useful. Caligo said that his wife had died months ago, as did his sons after Ensatina's questioning, and that he would do anything to protect his daughter. Ensatina agreed for herself and her friends to be taken away without her weapons, as Caligo had taken Gaius' wands away beforehand, though Ragnar managed to hide some scrolls and Glamon her knives and some scrolls. After they were forced to break out, Ensatina led the others back to the Great Hall, accompanied by Belladonna Young and Portnoy Godfrey. Ensatina bluntly told Caligo that his daughter was inhabited by a greater demon and needed to die; Caligo said that "the other one" had said the same. Thus, they were attacked by Caligo and his now-undead sons Artur and Lance. Belladonna Young was cut down in two strikes by Lord Caligo, who fought as a sword-and-shield fighter, while Artur fought with a two-handed axe and Lance a bow. After Artur was killed by Adelliah, Ensatina asked Caligo whether letting the rest of his family die was worth it for his daughter, and was met with Caligo's rage. He used Shackles of Pain to translate all damage he took to Ensatina, leading to Glamon accidentally killing Ensatina by hitting Caligo until Rangar resurrected her. Lance fell quickly too, burnt by Ensatina and Esmerelda, who had been watching in the corner with amusement, disappeared. After Glamon had been cut down by Lord Caligo and resurrected again by Ragnar, she declared that Lord Caligo had destroyed her family, turning him into a chicken and stabbing him to death, to Adelliah's cheering. Once the haze of combat lifted, Glamon had accidentally turned Ragnar's cat familiar into a chicken and stabbed the very-human Lord Caligo to death. After the fight, it was clear that Lord Caligo had been experimenting in necromancy, with books and resources scattered around the hall, though Caligo himself appeared to be human, suggesting that his grief for his daughter alone had driven him to do such deeds. With the death of Lord Caligo and the extinction of his line, the lordship of Epidicae passed in the female line to the second-most important nobles of Epidicae, House Desmognathus. With the eventual death of Esmerelda Caligo, Ensatina ultimately ascended to the lordship of Epidicae. Category:Death in the Family Category:Non Player Characters